


Kleptomania

by soverysesual



Category: The X-Files
Genre: F/M, Season 8
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-25
Updated: 2016-03-25
Packaged: 2018-05-28 22:57:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,562
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6348943
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/soverysesual/pseuds/soverysesual
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Scully can’t help but take certain things from Mulder’s apartment after his abduction.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Kleptomania

**Author's Note:**

> Takes place after _DeadAlive_ , and references _Per Manum_. This is my first TXF and MSR fic, so apologizes for any mistakes. I just haven’t been able to get this idea out of my mind for weeks now. Enjoy!

I.

After his abduction, there was a point where she was staying at his apartment more often than her own.

She knew everyone else knew what she doing. Doggett had caught her in the act the first time. Early on, she had felt uncomfortable and embarrassed about it, but once he started to put the pieces together about the nature of her relationship with Mulder, it bothered both of them less. At the end of the day, they both knew she wasn’t just there to feed the fish. Doggett just hoped that her being there was more comforting for her than it was harmful. 

The Gunmen and Skinner also knew she was there, as they had surveillance on the place at all times in hopes they’d find something or someone that would clue them in on the disappearance of their friend and colleague. They quickly learned that Scully was spending most of her nights there and never said anything. They also tended to give her a great deal of privacy on the nights she showed up, not wanting to be intruders on the poor woman’s grief.

She’d often stay there whole weekends at a time, just curled up on the couch under his blanket, watching a few movies (not those movies, of course). She’d order their favorite takeout order (sesame chicken for her, kung pao beef for him), as if the extra food would make it feel more like he was joining her. It was, of course, always too much food, even if she was technically eating for two. She made sure to eat some of each plate every time, the thought crossing her mind that maybe the baby would like both.

On certain week nights she’d show up, but this tended to be more rare, as she wasn’t prepared to actually move into the place. 

For nights when she stayed at her own apartment, she had ended up finding a solution that would replicate the small amount of comfort his apartment was giving her: she started stealing his clothes.

It started with his Knicks shirt. It was the first thing that had come to her mind when she began to formulate her plan. He had just washed it at some point before he left, and it had been folded casually next to his gym bag, ready to go for his next pick-up game. It was the softest thing he had, and it smelled the most like him. It wasn’t long before she couldn’t sleep without it. 

Next came the sweatpants. She had stolen them for a case that was going to take her out of the state for a weekend, and she was slowly starting out of pajamas that fit her comfortably. She had to roll the waist band a few times so that she wouldn’t trip when she walked around. There was a hole in the knee that she considered stitching up for him for when he returned, but then thought better of it, since he probably thought the hole gave them character. She could almost hear his voice arguing with her when she considered it, and she couldn’t help but smile a little. 

After that, she started stealing more and more of his clothes. There would come a point every so often where a shirt wouldn’t quite smell like him anymore, and she’d need another one. Or she’d grab a clean pair of boxers, enjoying the elastic waist that eased simply over her new curves. Or as the weather changed and her belly grew, she needed to steal a sweater or two. 

—

The day they buried him, she stayed at his apartment, wanting to be nowhere else but there. Skinner had told her that she could take as many days off as she needed, so she took advantage of it, and decided that she was going to stay in his bed as long as she could. The moment she got back from the funeral, she crawled in his bed, still crying, and fell asleep.

She woke up a few hours later and decided to change into something more comfortable. She began to comb through his dresser, realizing that most of his wardrobe was actually scattered across her apartment, and that she was running out of options.

When she opened the bottom drawer, the only one she hadn’t made her way into yet, she gasped.

Inside was an assortment of items straight out of a Babies “R” Us catalogue. On top of everything sat a small card that said “Congratulations on your bundle of joy!” on the front. She picked up the card first and began to read, not quite ready to examine the rest of the contents in the drawer.

_Dana,_

_You did it! Can you believe it? I’ve wanted to believe for so long that this miracle could happen for you, and here we are._

_I know that all of these tests an exams have been tough for you, and that every visit to the doctor has been more stressful than you’d like. But I truly believed that one of these attempts was going to take, and I am thrilled that it finally has._

_You’re going to be a mom, Scully!_

_As you can see, I might have gone a bit overboard with the gifts. Ever since you asked me to do this with you, I haven’t stopped buying things. I’ve been hoping that maybe if I buy more things, it would make your chances better, since the universe couldn’t possibly let all of this go to waste._

_I wanted to thank you for asking me to take part in this journey with you. All I have ever wanted for you is for you to be happy, and I know that having a child to call your own is what you want most. I’m so glad that I was able to help make this happen for you._

_I promise you that I’m going to be there with you every step of the way, in whatever role you want me to be in. I want to help make this a dream come true for you, no matter what._

_Congrats, Scully. I knew you could do it._

_Love,_

_Mulder_

She was sobbing by the time she had finished the card; overwhelmed by his sincerity and his excitement, heartbroken that he never had the chance to give this to her. She began to think of how he must have felt after the IVF hadn’t worked that final time. He had so much faith in it all working out, and it hadn’t. Instead, an even better miracle had happened after that fateful night they’d shared in his bed. 

But he was gone. He had never learned that their luck had changed, just like they had both so desperately hoped it would.

She was also struck by the fact that, in his letter, he was also trying to distance himself from the situation, in case she didn’t want him to be at her side through all of it. She let out another sob, frustrated that their feelings for each other still hadn’t been properly expressed, to the point where he figured she might not want to be with him. He couldn’t have been more wrong.

Once she was a little more composed, she finally started to look through the gifts.

On the very top was a beautiful cream-colored blanket. Holding it in her hands, it felt like a cloud. It was small, soft, and warm. The bordering edges of the blanket were silky smooth. She played with it in her hands for a while, trying to not break down again as she imagined wrapping their unborn child in it. She folded it back up neatly and placed it beside her, next to the card.

Her attention was next drawn to a handful of stuffed animals. There was a small teddy bear, a little elephant, even some sort of extraterrestrial, which she couldn’t help but roll her tearful eyes at. She took each one out and carefully examined them, trying imagine his thought process behind each one. 

Her favorite stuffed animal in the small collection was the bullfrog. Part of her couldn’t believe he had remembered, but she was absolutely certain why he had gotten it. Her heart melted a little, knowing he had probably gone a little out of his way to find that one, and smiled at the memory of herself serenading him with “Joy to the World.”

Next were a stack of baby clothes: space PJs with a UFO on it; an assortment of dresses in pinks and reds; multiple outfits with puppies, baseballs, and teddy bears on them; a few novelty onesies with different silly sayings, including “FBI: Farts, Burps, and Insomnia,” “Nobody puts baby in a corner,” and “My mom is hotter than your mom;” and a baby-sized Knicks jersey (because, of course he couldn’t resist). 

She couldn’t help but laugh at just how crazy he had gone with the clothes, how each one of the purchases had some sort of special meaning. The specificity in the items assured her that he hadn’t just been randomly going to the store. Each gift had been calculated and thoughtful. She avoided dwelling too much on the thought, exhausted from all of her emotions.

There was one final thing in the edge of the drawer. It was a nondescript cardboard box that she wasn’t even sure was supposed to be part of the plethora of gifts. She decided to open it anyways, as they were long past boundaries, for multiple reasons. 

Inside the box were multicolored wooden stars, and she quickly figured out that it was pieces of a mobile. She picked up a yellow star and fell in love with how perfectly made it, and the whole set, was. She looked back a the box, wondering where he had gotten it, but it gave no clues away. Something in her heart told her there was something special about it, but she couldn’t quite put her finger on it.

Examining the treasures around her, she once again felt the penetrating sadness that had been with her since they found him in the woods. Mulder never got know that the miracle had happened. Their child would never know just how much Mulder loved them. 

Feeling genuinely tired from all of this, she grabbed the bullfrog stuffed animal and climbed back into Mulder’s bed, praying that all of this was some terrible dream, and that she’d finally wake up already.

———-

II.

“I’m just having a little trouble… processing everything,” he said. They were both quiet for a few moments as he looked out the window. She didn’t know what to say, how to tell him that he fit in right with her. She wiped the tears away and tried to regain her composure while she waited for him to speak.

“Hey, Scully… I think I’m going to shower. You know, try to get the dead and the hospital off of me,” Mulder said, quietly, looking back at her. She nodded, looking at her hands.

“Is it… alright if I hang out here?” she asked quietly, slightly embarrassed that she wasn’t quite ready to leave him alone just yet. Mulder quickly understood what she was getting at.

“Of course,” he said, walking over to her. He rubbed her shoulder as he made his way towards the bathroom. “I won’t be long.”

She took a seat on his couch, trying not to work herself up. Of course he was having trouble processing everything. She remembered how difficult it was to adjust after her abduction, and what he had gone through was clearly so much worse. She let out a little sigh and rested her eyes, listening to the shower running in the other room.

Scully was about to doze off when he entered the living room again, wearing a very old t-shirt and just his boxers.

“Uh, Scully, where are all my clothes?”

She could feel her cheeks burn as she realized that she had never brought them back from her apartment. She had fully intended on keeping them there after they had buried him, obviously not anticipating any of what had transpired over the past few days. She could feel his gaze on her as she put her head in her hands and mumbled something.

“What?” he asked, not hearing a word she said. She sighed and looked up at him.

“I think we need to make a trip to my apartment,” she said quietly. He raised an eyebrow and tried to hide a smirk.

—

“I have something to show you,” she said, after they had sorted out the clothing situation. 

He hadn’t teased her until they walked into her room, and he found bits and pieces of his wardrobe everywhere: sweatpants resting on a chair, boxers crumpled in a laundry basket, the Knicks t-shirt laying next to her pillow. 

“You know, Scully, this isn’t quite how I imagined me picking my clothes up off your floor,” he’d quietly joked, not wanting to make her feel bad, but also trying to lighten the mood. Though she couldn’t stop blushing, she was relieved that he was at least acting like his old self.

She led him across the hall, into the old guest bedroom, now nursery. 

“Your clothing wasn’t the only thing I stole from your apartment,” she said quietly, as she flipped on the light. He smiled as he looked around the room, but it took him a minute to put together what she was trying to tell him. His grin widened when he noticed the mobile, and turned back to her.

“So you found the secret stash, I see.” He beamed at her, and she could see him tearing up a bit. She grinned as she walked towards him, grabbing his hand, and also reaching in the crib to grab the bullfrog, cuddling it to her chest.

“I did. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing when I found it. It was the day we…” she took a deep breath and tried to hold herself together, “the day we buried you. I wanted to believe that you had lead me to it somehow that night.”

He took her in his arms and held her close, despite her protruding belly. They stayed like that for a few moments, and he softly kissed her forehead.

“You know, it took a lot of effort for me to track down that mobile. It was mine and Samantha’s. My mom had hidden in it in a back corner of the basement. I wasn’t even sure she had kept it,” Mulder told her as they looked at the crib together.

“I’m so glad you found it,” she whispered. “It’s perfect. Everything you have given us, Mulder… it’s all too much.”

“Trust me, this is only the beginning. That is going to be one spoiled kid.” He beamed down at her, and she shook her head, a laugh lighting up her face. They remained quiet for a few moments, hands still entwined, as he continued to take in the room.

“Scully… before I left for Oregon… I was so afraid I’d never be able to give you all of this,” he whispered. 

“But, didn’t you remember what you told me?” she asked, pulling him closer towards her. “’Never give up on a miracle,’” she repeated, kissing him softly on the lips.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you liked this! I tried to base a lot of what he bought on items you can see in Scully’s apartment throughout season 9. A lot of the gifts are made up though, especially most of the clothes.


End file.
